Naomi Campbell
- Profession: Model
- Place/Date of Birth: Streatham, South London, 22 May 2020
After the model completed her sentence and left the sanitation offices in a sequin encrusted floor-length silver evening gown, Campbell wrote that she felt: "like I’ve paid my debt to society. I’m not proud of what I did, but it’s something I definitely learned from. Now I have to get on with my life, keep working on my problems and go to meetings every day."
Naomi: I feel like I’ve let people down - April 11 2007
Naomi Campbell has spoken about her community service experience for the first time - insisting she didn’t scrub any toilets. See photos of Naomi’s community service
The shamed supermodel - who described her five-day stint as a cleaner at the New York City Department of Sanitation as "humbling" - told Access Hollywood she "swept" and "cleaned walls and tables and offices".
As for reports she got down on her hands and knees to scour toilets, Naomi said simply: "No. I didn’t."
The model also revealed she made a few new friends.
"I just got to be with people and learn a lot about people that I would never really get to meet in my job," she said.
She scotched rumours of a budding romance with an unnamed co-worker - dubbed the Sanitation Stud - who was spotted accompanying her to and from her cleaning duties and carrying her bags.
"I got to have dinner with he and his wife during that week which was really nice," said Naomi.
"He’s become a friend of mine - he and his wife. I felt terrible when they exposed him in the papers after I left."
Naomi added that the experience had helped her move on from a period of "denial".
She said: "I feel like I’ve let people down, but most importantly I’m at the point in my life where I have to be loving to myself and to be at peace with myself and take care of myself, which is where I am right now."
Naomi dressing up for a reason? - Mar 22 2007
One of the paparazzi snapping Naomi Campbell’s community service stint has been unmasked as top fashion photographer Steven Klein, fuelling speculation that the supermodel is set to turn her walk of shame into a magazine shoot.
Naomi, who confirmed on her official website, www.naomicampbell.com, that she recently shot the July cover for US fashion magazine W with Steven, turned up for day three of her community service wearing a stylish black dress and leather jacket.
She was carrying a large bag, which presumably contained more appropriate clothes for the day ahead.
After allowing Steven to clamber onto the roof of her waiting SUV on Tuesday, Naomi wrote mysteriously on her blog: "I don’t want to give too much away about the shoot and will leave it as a surprise."
Steven gained notoriety for his edgy shoots after photographing Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as a husband and wife with kids for W magazine long before the couple announced their relationship.
Speculation is rife that Naomi will pose for Steven in full cleaning garb, though W magazine has declined to comment.
Meanwhile, the catwalk queen, whose duties so far have included sweeping and mopping locker room floors, has been bonding with her workmates over sandwich lunches.
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She was raised by her grandparents since her mother, the ambitious Valerie, was making her way around the world with an exotic dance troupe. At 13, precocious Naomi started at the Italia Conti stage school. Two years later she was ’discovered’ in Covent Garden by a modelling scout.
Recently, she has been seeking anger therapy - her American agency fired her on the grounds that she was ’unbearable’ and published the following statement: ’No amount of money or prestige could further justify the abuse she has imposed on our staff and clients.’ She recently pleaded guilty to assaulting her assistant with the mobile phone she normally keeps clamped to her ear. Naomi had a top 10 hit with Babywoman in Japan and has a reputation for being always late.
She has been romanced by a string of men including Mike Tyson, Robert De Niro, Joaquin Cortes and was rumoured to have had a fling with Joseph Fiennes. She is currently dating Italian millionaire Flavio Briatore.
As well as modelling and a stab at a music career she has also penned a novel entitled Swan (1995) and has appeared in the film Pret-a-Porter, she also appeared in an episode of Absolutely Fabulous and once was a pupil in Grange Hill. Naomi has also just launched her own perfume. She also has an apartment in Chelsea. (written 2001)
November 2007